would you join a hive mind? (assuming you liked the hive mind’s personality)

@ligniform that’s completely fair tbh. I think if I trusted the hive mind to release my mind after the time is up, I would be really really interested to feel what it’s like to merge with them for a very short amount of time. and maybe I would work up to longer amounts of time, too - but I would never want it to be a permanent thing

@ligniform hm that’s a really good point. I was imagining it like plugging my brain into a machine and then having it unplugged afterward but that wouldn’t make sense, because a wired connection would be incredibly impractical

@kasdeya i'm not confident i could be meaningfully extracted from a hive mind as myself after the onset, but if i liked that hive mind enough, perhaps that wouldn't matter

@kasdeya Having written a hive-mind, I don't really want to go into one. At least if things work as they did with that one, but as that's how my interpretation of a hive-mind goes so does it apply to my answer. It was a cool character though.

@fargate ooh that sounds interesting! how did the hive mind work in your story?

@kasdeya It had taken over all of the particular kind of humans (men), leaving the others to live in an illusion where nothing seemed wrong, except they were suddenly getting much better treatment. Some of the other side formed bonds with a secondary kind of alien beings that were closely related to the hive mind itself to protect it from any threats from stragglers or outer space. It all boiled down to something of a magical girl -like setting in the end.

If you wanted the full biological "how", that story didn't get far enough due to a bout of sickness cutting the whole thing short through lack of desire to continue later. But yes, aliens. Symbiotes. Parasites? That kind of stuff.

@fargate oohh - sounds like a great premise for a potentially hot? story tbh. it’s a shame that you got sick and didn’t end up continuing it though - I hope that you’ve found plenty of other projects to put your creativity into (you seem really creative, so I bet you have)

@kasdeya This happens to be a relatively recent case, and I have not in fact found much at all since! I don't tend to write much solo, and just haven't been able to start searching again. I do hope to fix that, but advertising is hard when the idea selection is bloody massive. Easier to look for folks with whom to chat about potential plots, but the forum just hasn't had anyone in a while.

@kasdeya checking your other answers and ... you are the most wholesome... succubus... anything... I've seen on the internet. I'd totally be in a hivemind with you, just to have the kindest thoughts float in peacefully to my awareness

(I'm being hyperbolic, but seriously it's cool you are so kind)

@kasdeya @ligniform "Yeah, we're a totally chill hivemind, you know, keep it casual, just because you share a thought-field doesn't mean you have to get *married* or anything. I have a couple friends in a mind-with-benefits thing, it works out"

@kasdeya really the concept of a hive mind is very expansive because it is too sci-fi, none of the conceptions is more likely than the other, so the answer depends on what hive mind you imagine.

If it's a plug-unplug thing, and there is no risk of becoming an "experience machine", I'd do it with a time limit. First 10 minutes of hivemind and get booted automatically, then I can re-evaluate (as an individual) if I want to get back in.

@ruakueqche awww you are so sweet - thank you! 😊 you seem really nice too 💙

I’m ngl though, most of my Fedi posts are me complaining about various things so I hope I don’t shatter that illusion for you :P but seriously this really made me smile

@ruakueqche I’m ngl I deliberately left it vague what kind of hive mind I was talking about because I wanted to see how others think of hive minds. I haven’t really read a very in-depth exploration of what it means to be a part of a hive mind so I don’t have a very good understanding of exactly how they might work anyway

but yes omg that would be my exact response too. I don’t think I would ever want to give up my individuality fully, but I think I might enjoy kind of “visiting” a hive mind for a while just to be unburdened with my individuality for a certain period of time. depending on how exactly that felt and what it was like. then again, I might completely freak out once I regained my individuality again and remembered everything that had happened - like it might feel something like ego death to me to remember that

@kasdeya I've seen them, and I remain unfazed. Being kind is about treating people like they matter, and complaining is... it's just what must be done in 2025 to not melt into mush xD

It just moved me, to see you be thoughtful of others

@kasdeya I'll admit I'm not attached to my individuality very much, as itself. I like my individuality in how it lets me thinks of things other people often don't consider. I also am overwhelmed when I'm constantly surrounded by people, so I use my alone time to think and process things I just can't think when I'm with others. But if I could do those things while part of a collective, it would be awesome! If being on a hivemind made me do more of what I want to achieve, I'd do it enough that I'd see my individuality as a "weekend treat".

I guess in this case I'm using the hivemind to explore what I actually want for my real life. I'd love to belong to a collective irl, a polycule or a commune, if my individuality was a vibrant part of that collective, and belonging did not reduce my being, but expanded it.

@ruakueqche awww well thank you! I don’t feel like I’m anything special but I really appreciate this, and I’m glad that you could have that experience

and omg I know - 2025 has been hard on everyone T_T

@ruakueqche omg this is exactly the kind of interesting perspective that I was hoping to hear when I posted this poll! it’s so hard for me to imagine not being attached to my individuality - I think losing that might feel somewhat like death to me, even if I were a part of a larger whole and my distinctiveness was still intact within that whole. something about the idea of myself becoming a part of something greater for a prolonged period of time scares me a fair bit

so I think it’s really cool and interesting that you don’t feel that way, and I like the connection between collectivism and hive minds - I hadn’t really considered that but it makes a lot of sense. especially because the needs of each individual in the collective would also directly be the needs of the collective as a whole, so you could always count on the collective to prioritize your wellbeing

@kasdeya I love the direction you took it! I have a strong suspicion that hive minds are mostly explored as anti-communist propaganda. iirc, the borg in star trek were a sci-fi expression of fear of soviet russia, in a similar way to "invation of the body snatchers" (which was about communists infiltrating patriotic america, but as plant-aliens). This perspective does not move me too much because it reinforces too many stereotypes against communism, instead of critiquing totalitarian societies and state propaganda directly.

A more interesting (though still dark) use of hive minds is as an analogue to cults. That's the part where you loose your individuality, mostly because it gets replaced with a foreign identity, the cult mentality drilled into participants by a culture of control and fear. This is how I think it was used in "Sinners" (2025)... Oh, spoilers, sorry xD

But I've not seen my positive perspective been explored, probably because a collective of individuals sounds like a contradiction in our days. But that's exactly the kind of society that anarchists want to create, where the well being of all is the well being of each, and the social and the individual reinforce each other's growth. Given how I'm an anarchist, this perspective is enticing to me: social bonds of incredible intimacy and synergy are there for anyone who wants to experiment with them, because the material and social barriers have been lifted, you are not kept from exploring your self as it would be with others.

Since the last post I realized that plurals (people with Dissociative Identity Disorder, or multiple personalities as they were called before) are probably the closest irl to a hive mind. Though from the plural friends I've talked with, the experience is exactly the *opposite* of the tradition. It's a single head full of individuals, and their individualities and personalities are *very* strong and different from each other. If they've integrated enough, they share memories and a mind space, but they are each their own person, *not* a homogenized collective.

Sorry for the infodump, I don't know why I found this so exiting all of a sudden.